Martin etal
detent pointer channel



Dec. 14, 1965 A, ARTIN A 3,223,317

3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 16. 1963 N AnthonyT. Gulbmo BY KW, 7 M

ATTORNEYS Dec. 14, 1965 v. MARTIN ETAL 3,223,317

DETENT POINTER CHANNEL 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS Afton V. Murfin AnthonyT. Golbofo Filed July 16. 1963 ATTOR NE Y6 Dec. 14, 1965 A. v. MARTIN ETAL 3,223,317

DETENT POINTER CHANNEL Filed July 16, 1963 3 Sheets- Sheet 3 INVENTORS Afton V. Martin AnthonyTGolbofo ATTORNEYS United States Patent Ofifice 3,223,317 Patented Dec. 14, 1965 3,223,317 DETENT POINTER CHANNEL Afton V. Martin and Anthony T. Galbato, Jamestown,

N.Y., assignors, by mesne assignments, to Automatic Voting Machine Corporation, Jamestown, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed July 16, 1963, Ser. No. 295,336 7 Claims. (Cl. 23554) This invention relates to voting machines and, more specifically, to improvements in voting machines of the automatic type.

Voting machines of the type to which this invention relates are equipped with rows of levers which the voter depresses to select his candidates for the offices to be filled and to record his answers to questions submitted to the electorate and which will generally be referred to hereinafter as voting levers. Plural order registers are connecterd to the volting levers to record the votes for the selected candidates and the voters answers to the questions posed.

In this type of voting machine, the depressed voting levers must be movmi fully to the voted position to insure that the registers associated with these levers will be advanced. It has been found, however, that the voter will not always fully depress all of the levers and that the votes of an appreciable portion of the electorate will therefore not be correctly counted. The prior art 'solution of this problem was to incorporate in the voting machine detent channel assemblies which, when the voter depressed a voting lever, would exert a force on the lever sufficient to fully move it to the voted position.

The prior art detent channel assembly typically includes an elongated channel with apertures spaced along its web through which the square shanks of a row of voting levers extend. A portion of each voting lever shank substantially equal in length to the thickness of the channel web is machined to a cylindrical configuration to permit the lever to rotate toward the voted position.

Riveted in the channel are a number of stampings in which are formed spring clips having coacting arms extending upwardly from the channel web on opposite sides of each of the apertures in the web. In their unvoted positions, opposed corners of the voting lever shanks spread apart the spring clip arms which exert opposed, counterbalancing reaction forces on the shanks. When a lever is depressed by the voter, rotating it toward the voted position, these opposed reaction forces exert a force couple on the levers shank, rotating the lever fully to the voted position.

The prior art detent channels produced an operationally satisfactory solution to the problem discussed above, but had a serious drawback resulting from the fact that the stampings had to be hardened to impart the requisite resilient properties to the spring clips. The hardened spring clips frequently broke. This most frequently occurred during or after long storage periods between elections in non-weather tight storage facilities in hot humid climates. This was annoying to the election officials and has created dissatisfaction with automatic voting machines. In addition, since the spring clip stampings were permanently assembled to the assembly channel, failure of a spring clip necessitated replacement of the entire assembly, resulting in a high replacement cost. Additionally, replacement of the assembly involved a substantial amount of labor, further adding to the cost of maintaining automatic voting machines.

The present invention provides a novel detent channel assembly which operates as efiectively as the prior art assembly described above, but which has a substantially indefinite useful life. The detent channel assembly of the present invention employs a pair of small diameter, resilient rods having virtually indefinite useful lives to exert force couples on the shanks of the voting levers rather than the complicated brittle stampings of the prior art assemblies. The rods are supported by flanges struck from the web of the channel and extend through apertures in the flanges laterally spaced to position the rods so that they will be spread by opposed corners of the voting lever shanks when the latter are in their unvoted positions.

The resilient rods are retained in the channel by a spreader which is also struck out from the channel web and which extends between the rods, forcing them against the edges of the apertures in the supporting flanges adjacent the spreader. The resultant friction retains the resilient rods in place, but still permits them to be easily withdrawn from the assembly.

The spreader also serves another highly important function. In many elections, the voter is entitled to select candidates for ofiices to be filled and, in addition, to vote for or against proposals required by law to be submitted to the electorate such as bond issues, constitutional amendments, and the like. To comply with the election laws in many jurisdictions, the question levers must be spaced apart from the voting levers so that the voter will not mistake one type of lever for the other. The spreader is arranged to fall between the shanks of the adjacent question and voting levers and is dimensioned to so bias the resilient rods that they will exert substantially uniform force couples on both of the adjacent ones of the voting and question levers.

Among the objects of the present invention are:

(1) The provision of improved automatic voting machine detent channel assemblies;

(2) The provision of automatic voting machine detent channel assemblies having useful lives substantially longer than those of the prior art;

(3) The provision of automatic voitng machine detent channel assemblies having removable biasing members permitting a defective member to be replaced without the need of replacing the entire assembly; and

(4) The provision of automatic voting machine detent channel assemblies which are simpler and substantially less expensive to manufacture than those of the prior art.

Further objects and other novel features of the present invention will become more fully apparent from the annexed claims and as the following detailed description and discussion proceeds in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a partial front view of the type of automatic voting machine in which the novel detent channel assemblies provided by the present invention are intended to be employed;

FIGURE 2 is a rear view of the front panel of the voting machine housing, illustrating the shanks of the vertical rows of voting levers and their connection to the detent channel assemblies as well as the positioning of the assemblies relative to each other and the manner in which they are attached to the voting machine housing;

FIGURE 3 is a front View of a detent channel assembly;

FIGURE 4 is a right side view of the detent channel assembly of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is a section of the detent channel assembly taken substantially along line 5-5 of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 6 is a section of the detent channel assembly taken substantially along line 6-6 of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 7 is a front View, to an enlarged scale, of a portion of the detent channel assembly and includes a diagram of theforces exerted on the shank of a voting lever by the resilient biasing members of the assembly; and

FIGURE 8 is a vertical section through the voting machine of FIGURE 1, taken substantially along line 88 of the latter figure, with certain parts broken away to more clearly illustrate the nature of the present invention.

Referring now to the drawings, FIGURE 1 illustrates an automatic voting machine of the type with which the novel spring channel assemblies 22 provided by the present invention (FIGURES 24) are intended to be employed. Voting machine 26 includes a number of voting levers 24 (only a few of which are shown) arranged in vertical rows 26 corresponding to the offices to be filled and in horizontal rows 28 corresponding to the various political parties with which the candidates are affiliated. At least one horizontal row 36 of question levers (which are identical to the voting levers), spaced a substantial distance above the uppermost horizontal row 28 with levers 25 aligned in the vertical rows 26, is provided to enable the voter to cast votes for or against various proposals submitted to the electorate. The increased spacing minimizes the possibility that the voter will confuse the voting and question levers. Voting levers 24 and question levers 25 are connected by appropriate linkages (not shown) to plural order cumulative type registers which record the votes received by each candidate and the aflirmative and negative answers to each proposal.

Voting machine 21) also includes party levers 32 which, when operated by the voter, cause a vote to be registered for each of the candidates associated with the voting levers in a particular horizontal row 28. In the event that party voting is to be prohibited, access to party levers 32 may be denied the voters by fastening a party lever cover assembly 34 over the party levers. Similarly, if the number of candidates and/ or proposals are not sufficient to require the full capacity of voting machine 20, horizontal rows 28 and may be blocked off by fastening full row lockout shields not shown over one or more of the horizontal rows. Smaller groups of voting and question levers can be blocked by employing pointer cover assemblies 38.

Voting machine 20 is also equipped with a main operating lever 40 which the voter operates to the vote position shown in dashed lines in FIGURE 1 when he enters the voting booth. This accomplishes two functions. First, it closes the curtain (not shown) of the voting booth to conceal the voter. Second, it unlocks the voting machine, readying it for voting. The voter may then cast his ballot, by depressing a party lever 32 or by depressing individual voting levers 24 from the slightly downwardly inclined non-voted position to the substantially vertical voted position indicated by reference character 24a. In either event, the voter may then record his affirmative or negative answers to proposals submitted to the electorate by depressing the appropriate question levers 25. Normally two question levers 25 are provided for each proposal, one for recording affirmative answers and one for recording negative answers.

After he has finished voting, the voter moves main operating lever 40 from the vote position shown in dashed lines through the position designated reset position to the position designated non-vote during which the registers are advanced, and voting and question levers and/ or party levers are returned. Near the end of the movement of the operating lever, the curtains are opened for exit of the voter and entry of the next voter.

The above mechanism is encased in a housing indicated generally by reference character 42. Since the details of this mechanism form no part of the present invention and are not necessary to an understanding of the present invention, except as hereinafter set forth, it is not deemed that a detailed description of it is necessary.

Referring now to FIGURE 8, voting levers 24 and question levers 25 are of conventional construction, each including a handle 44- and a square-sectioned shank 46 which extends through an aperture 48 in the vertical front panel 50 of voting machine housing 42. Fastened by a rivet 52 to housing front wall 50 below each of the voting levers 24 is a candidate ballot label holder 54.

Operatively connected to the shank 46 of each voting lever 24 by a candidate key 56 and a disconnect pin 58, which extends through aligned apertures 60 and 62 in depending arms 64 and 66 of the candidate key, are a candidate straight ticket bar 68 and a candidate primary bar 7%. Fixed to a rearwardly extending key stud 74 of candidate key 56 are a locking strap 76, which limits the number of candidates that a voter may select and an actuator arm 78. The components just described torm no part of the present invention and are not, therefore, deemed to require further elaboration.

With continued reference to FIGURE 8 and with reference also to FIGURES 2 and 3, a spring channel assembly 22 is provided for each of the vertical rows 26 of voting and question levers. Each of the spring channel assemblies 22 includes an elongated channel 82 having square apertures 84 of slightly larger dimensions than the square shanks 46 of voting levers 24 and question levers 25 formed at intervals along its web 86. The channels 22 are secured in place by horizontally extending support angles 88 and 90 having horizontal flanges 92 and 94, respectively, provided at intervals with slots (not shown) through which tabs 96 and 98, formed on the upper and lower ends of the spring channel assemblies 22 extend. Support angles 88 and 91) may be fixed in any convenient manner to the rear side of voting machine housing front wall 50, or, if desired, to any other appropriately located components of the voting machine housing or framewor When channel assemblies 22 are fixed in place as described above, the shanks 46 of the voting and question levers extend through apertures 84 between the legs 100 and 102 of channels 32. Reduced diameter, cylindrically configured portions 104 of shanks 46 permit the voting and question levers to be rotated relative to the channels 82 after they are inserted through apertures 84-.

Struck out of the web 86 of each channel 82 between apertures 84 are flanges 108 which extend normally from web 86 between the legs 100 and 102 of the channel. Formed in each of the flanges 198 are a pair of laterally spaced apertures 110 and 112 through which elongated small diameter, biasing spring rods 114 and 116 of resilient, spring-like metal extend. As is best shown in FIGURE 2, spring rods 114 and 116 extend upwardly past the shanks 46 of the question levers 25 in horizontal row 30 and downwardly past the shanks 46 of the voting levers 24 in the lowermost of the horizontal rows 28.

As is best shown in FIGURE 7, the spacing between the apertures 110 and 112 in flanges 108 is such that, when the voting levers 24 (and question levers 25) are in the non-voted position (shown in FIGURE 7), spring rods 114 and 116 will be bowed outwardly by the op posed corners 118 and 119 of the shanks. Spring rods 114 and 116 will, therefore, exert laterally acting reaction forces on the shanks 46 of the voting and question lever. These forces are designated F and F in FIGURE 7 and, as they are of substantially equal magnitude and are displaced in opposite directions, they create a couple which is applied to the shanks 46, tending to urge the keys in a clockwise direction as viewed in FIGURE 7 and in a counterclockwise direction as viewed in FIGURE 1. In the non-voted position the free end of each key contacts the adjacent key which acts as a positive stop.

However, when the handle 44 of a voting lever 24 (or question lever 25) is depressed by the voter, the shank 46 of that lever is rotated in a counterclockwise direction (as viewed in FIGURE 7) from the position shown in full lines toward the position shown in dotted lines and identifled by reference character 46a. The reaction forces then exerted by spring rods 114 and 116 on the shank 46 of the lever will be those designated by reference characters F and F As is apparent from FIGURE 7, forces F and F act in opposite directions on shank 46 and on opposite sides of its centroid C and thereby exert a force couple on the shank, rotating it in the direction indicated by arrow 120 to the voted position shown in dotted lines and designated by reference character 46b. Thus, only slight movement by the voter of the voting lever handle 44 will sufiice to generate a force couple of sufficient magnitude to rotate the voting or question lever fully to its voted position, insuring that the register connected to the lever thus depressed will be advanced.

The spring rod-s 114 and 116 are retained in Channel 92 by a spreader 121 struck out of channel web 86 and extending between legs 100 and 102 of the channel. As is best shown in FIGURE 3, the opposite edges 122 and 124 of spreader 121 spread the spring rods 114 and 116 apart, forcing them outwardly toward the adjacent channel legs 100 and 102 and binding them against the edges of the apertures 110 and 112 in the flanges 108 on either side of spreader 121.

In addition to retaining spring rods 114 and 116 in channel 82, spreader 121 also insures that the spring rods will exert substantially equal reaction forces on the shanks 46 of the voting levers in the various rows 28 and on the shanks 46 of the question levers 25 in the question row or rows 30. The spring channel assembly construction described above permits spring rods 114 and 116 to be replaced if necessary without removing the entire spring channel assembly from the machine.

The illustrated embodiment of spring channel assembly 22 provides a single row 30 of question levers. The channels may be readily modified, however, to accommodate any desired number of question rows by shifting the position of spreaders 121. Additionally, the spring rods 114 and 116 of the illustrated embodiment may each be replaced by two, three, or more shorter spring rods, arranged in end-to-end relationship. In this case, a corresponding number of spreaders 121 will be struck out of channel web 86 at appropriate intervals to retain the plural pairs of spring rods in the channel assembly.

The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The present embodiment is therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein.

What is claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. In a voting machine: a row of voting levers; resilient biasing means including at least one pair of independent members extending a substantial portion of the length of said row for moving selected levers from unvoted to voted positions upon voter-initiated movement of the selected levers toward their voted positions; a housing at least partially surrounding and extending at substantially the length of said members; and means comprising a single flange integral with said housing between each pair of adjacent levers for controlling the lever-moving effect of said members on said adjacent levers.

2. In a voting machine: a row of voting levers arranged in two groups with the members of each group being equidistantly spaced at intervals substantially less than the distance between the groups; and resilient biasing means including at least one pair of independent members extending a substantial portion of the length of said row for moving selected levers from unvoted to voted positions upon voter-initiated movement of the selected levers toward their voted positions, said resilient biasing means including spreader means between said groups cooperating with said independent members to insure the exertion of substantially uniform movement-effecting forces by said resilient biasing means on the members of both groups.

3. In a voting machine: voting levers having shanks mounting said levers for movement between unvoted and Voted positions, said voting levers being so disposed that 6 said shanks are in a plurality of parallel, spaced apart rows; and independent resilient biasing means for each of the rows including at least one pair of independent members extending a substantial portion of the length of each said row and exterting counterbalancing reaction forces on the shanks of the levers in said row which are in the unvoted position, said shanks being so configuredthat upon voter-initiated movement of a lever toward the voted position, said reaction forces will exert a force couple on the shank of said lever to move it to the voted position; a housing for said voting levers and said resilient biasing means; and means for so mounting the resilient biasing means in said housing that each of said resilient biasing means is individually removable from the housing.

4. An assembly for effecting movement of voting machine levers from unvoted to voted positions, comprising: an elongated U-sectioned channel having substantially parallel side walls and a web extending between said said side walls and substantially normal thereto; apertures in the Web of said channel for receiving the shanks of a row of voting levers; and at least one pair of elongated, small diameter rods of resilient material disposed in said channel and extending parallel to its web and side walls, said rods extending a substantial portion of the length of said channel in parallel, spaced, side-by-side relationship; and apertured flanges struck from said web between adjacent shank-receiving apertures, said rods extending through the flange apertures.

5. The assembly as defined in claim 4, including a spreader struck from said web and extending into said channel between said rods to displace said rods toward the legs of said channels and thereby insure a substantially uniform lever-moving effect of said assembly on the members of voting lever groups on opposite sides of said spreader and to retain said rods in said channel.

6. An assembly for effecting movement of voting machine levers from unvoted to voted positions, comprising: an elongated channel; apertures in the web of said channel for receiving the shanks of a row of voting levers; and at least one pair of elongated, small diameter rods of resilient material disposed in said channel parallel to its web, said rods extending a substantial portion of the length of said channel in parallel, spaced, side-by-side relationship; apertured flanges struck from said web be tween adjacent shank-receiving apertures, said rods extendmg through the apertures in said flanges; a spreader struck extending into said channel between stud rods to displace said rods toward the legs of said channels and thereby insure a substantially uniform levermoving effect of said assembly on the members of voting lever groups on opposite sides of said spreader and to rods.

7. In a voting machine: a row of polygonally sectioned shanks; means mounting said levers for movement between unvoted and voted positions with said shanks disposed in two groups and the distance between the nearest shanks in the two groups greater than the distance between the shanks in each of said groups; at least one pair of independent, elongated, resilient members extending -a substantial portion of the length of said row and embracing opposite sides of said shanks, said members being spread apart by the shanks of levers in the unvoted position, thereby creating oppositely acting reaction forces in said members, said shanks being so configured that the reaction forces of levers in the unvoted position are in equilibrium and so configured that voter-initiated movement of a lever toward the voted position causes said reaction forces to exert a force couple on the shank of said lever to effect movement of said lever to the voted position; a housing at least partially surrounding said resilient members and the portions of the voting lever shanks embraced by said resilient members; a flange integral with said housing between each voting levers having 7 8 pair of adjacent levers in each of said groups for con- References Cited by the Examiner trolling the lever moving effect of said resilient members UNITED STATES PATENTS on adjacent levers; and a spreader struck from said houS- 2,203,224 6/1940 Kimball 5 ing and extending between said resilient members in r 2,210,099 8/1940 shipley 35 145 the space between the two groups of voting levers, said 0 2, 95 10 1 1950 Shoup 235 55 spreader being dimensioned to bias apart said resilient FOREIGN PATENTS members and thereby insure a substantially uniform levermoving effect by said resilient members on the shanks 101583 8/1902 Austinin each of the two groups of voting levers and to retain 10 591124 1/1934 Germany said resilient members in said housing. LEO SMILOW, P 'y Examiner- 

1. IN A VOTING MACHINE: A ROW OF VOTING LEVERS; RESILIENT BIASING MEANS INCLUDING AT LEAST ONE PAIR OF INDEPENDENT MEMBERS EXTENDING A SUBSTANTIAL PORTION OF THE LENGTH OF SAID ROW FOR MOVING SELECTED LEVERS FROM UNOVTED TO VOTED POSITIONS UPON VOTER-INITIATED MOVEMENT OF THE SELECTED LEVERS TOWARD THEIR VOTED POSITION; A HOSING AT LEAST PARTIALLY SURROUNDING AND EXTENDING AT SUBSTANTIALLY THE LENGTH OF SAID MEMBERS; AND MEANS COMPRISING A SINGLE FLANGE INTEGRAL WITH SAID HOUSING BETWEEN EACH PAIR OF ADJACENT LEVERS FOR CONTROLLING THE LEVER-MOVING EFFECT OF SAID MEMBERS ON SAID ADJACENT LEVERS. 